PIERRE, S.D. – The South Dakota Athletic Administrators Association voted against reducing the number of football classes from the current 7 to 5 during their recent conference in March. The state’s ADs voted 77-58 against the proposal with multiple votes from co-ops and 60-46 overall during their annual conference. The proposal brought forward by the football advisory committee reduced 11-man divisions to three and nine-man divisions to two. Despite the negative vote count, the South Dakota High School Activities Association is still prepared to recommend the proposal be passed during its first reading by the board of directors on April 21. A majority of the dissent came from nine-man schools while 11-man schools voted 28-24 in favor of the new proposal. SDHSAA bylaws state when the number of nine-man teams falls to 64, it automatically drops from three classes to two, and even though there were 68 teams last season, many were not ready to make a decision now. If the board takes no action on the proposal, it could lead scheduling ramifications for the 2021 and 2022 cycle with 11-man teams. The board is scheduled to meet on April 22nd and take action.
(mitchellrepublic.com provided some information for the above story)
